Vault 50
Another reminder of the Old-World in Western Montana, Vault 50 is now nothing but a glowing hole. Built to test the effects of sleep deprivation on maintenance personnel, the result came sudden for the overseer. History Pre-War Work on Vault 50 began on October 2nd, 2066, and ran almost seven years. It would cost four billion more than originally budgetted due to a shifting sedimentary layer not found in the original geological survey. Once completed, it would be fully stocked with provisions and equipment, the only notable exception would be light-switches in a setion of the living quarters. Post-War The Vault would first be occupied on the day of the Great War, the meager first warning and remoteness of the Vault only allowed just over 200 people to enter before the door was sealed. Chaos & disorder would reign for several minutes before the assigned overseer, Lesslie Hacklestien, restored order and began matching the listed residents with who was actually there. Once the survivors were accounted for, the six security guards began escorting residents to their quarters. The first few days saw several breakdowns and a small wave of depression, but by the end of the year, the residents started becoming dwellers. One such dweller was Adam Byrants, the head of maintenance, and one of only two people authorized to work on the fusion generator at the heart of the vault. Byrants had been assigned a room without a light-switch, and started to complain of trouble sleeping. The Vault doctor would nod his head at this complaint, but offered little help. The problem would get to the point where Byrants would fall asleep at his station, almost causing a meltdown in one instance, as his foot hit the coolant switch. he was reprimanded by the overseer for this, but not otherwise punished. This would continue for three more years, before Byrants hung himself in 2082. He would be replaced, and time passed peacefully for the next two decades as maintenance workers drifted slowly towards insanity, but the real crises would come from the lack of genetic diversity in the population. Projecting the current population would start inbreeding around 2210, the vault computer was put to work to come up with a solution. In the meantime the reactor functioned normally, though the maintenance staff caused occasional accidents. The overseer died in 2113, and her replacement sealed off the unused portions of the Vault to reduce the work done by the maintenance staff, being unaware of the experiment.This helped somewhat, but by 2152 the vault would be in poor-repair. Doors had been forced open or closed, sections of pipe had been scavenged to fix other sections, and jury-rigging in general was common throughout. People dreaded being assigned maintenance duty or having to call them, as their strangeness was noticeable. These things ceased to matter in September however, as a malfunctioning valve shut off coolant flow to the reactor, starting a meltdown. The maintenance chief was busy trying to smash the caged and recessed lighting in his apartment like so many of his predecessors had, and was unaware of the problem. Few in the wastes noticed as the Vault exploded, and no one missed the residents. Government Vault 50 was led by an overseer who controlled all aspects of vault life, assisted by the heads of the various departments who managed the day to day running of their sections. Experiment The purpose of the vault was to test the effects of sleep deprivation on maintenance workers. Initially aiming only for those who worked on the reactor, it was soon thought that more data could be gathered if all the staff was included. In the event that a light-bulb burnt out or that a maintenance worker disabled one, security chosen by the chief would enter the apartment and replace it, punishing the offending worker if necessary. to avoid them getting around the experiment by sleeping elsewhere, all closets were outfitted with lights that were constantly burning, and all fixtures were to be caged to protect them. The data gathered was to be stored on the Vault's mainframe, until sent for by Vault-Tec headquarters or in the case of emergency. This latter occurrence would result in the mainframe attempting to send the data to Vault-Tec, but was unable to establish a connection before the reactor exploded. Category:Vaults Category:Montana Category:Sites